Question : PERFORMANCE OF CONTAINER TERMINALS

(a) the present container capacity of the major ports in the country;

(b) the progress made by the Government in regard to increasing their capacity during the current plan period;

(c) whether the Government proposes to increase the container capacity of ports in the country during the next plan period;

(d) if so, the details thereof and the efforts being made to increase their capacity during this plan so far;

(e) whether the Government has reviewed the performance of the container terminals built on BoT basis;

(f) if so, whether the Government has decided to encourage private organisations in this regard; and

(g) if so, the details thereof?

MINISTER OF SHIPPING, ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS ( SHRI T.R. BAALU )

(a) Container handling facilities have been installed in seven major ports, namely, Kolkata including Haldia Dock Complex, Visakhapatnam, Chennai, Tuticorin, Cochin, Mumbai and Jawaharlal Nehru Port. The aggregate capacity for handling containers in these major ports as on 31.3.2004 is 4.13 million Twenty Feet Equivalent Units (TEUs) per annum.

(b)to(d) Creation of additional capacities including capacities for handling container traffic in major ports is an on-going process. During the first two years of the Tenth Plan period, there has been an increase of 1.05 million TEUs per annum in the aggregate container handling capacity in the major ports.

Government has also approved projects for development of a third container terminal at Jawaharlal Nehru Port and the International Container Transhipment Terminal at Cochin Port on Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis. On completion, these two projects will yield additional container handling capacity of 4.3 million TEUs per annum.

Ennore, Mormugao, Mumbai and Kandla Ports have undertaken the bidding process for development of container terminal/berths/facilities on BOT basis.

Government has further given ‘in-principle’ approval for development of second container terminals at Chennai and Tuticorin Ports.

Extension of the existing container berth at Jawaharlal Nehru Port which will yield additional capacity of 6 lakh TEUs per annum has been planned

(e) Four container terminals, one each at Visakhapatnam Port, Chennai Port, Tuticorin Port and Jawaharlal Nehru Port are under operation by private operators. The performance of the major ports including container terminals operated by private parties is reviewed from time to time.

(f) & (g) Since the early 1990s, the Government has been encouraging private sector participation in development of major ports with a view to improving productivity efficiency and promoting competition. Government has issued comprehensive guidelines for private sector participation in major ports. These guidelines indicate the areas of private sector participation and also lay down the process of selection of private operators including the qualification criteria, bidding procedures, evaluation and selection criteria. The Government has also prescribed model documents with a view to making the guidelines transparent and investor friendly based on which the major ports may carve out project specific documents.